LG And HTC To Bring Tablets To MWC

Abbreviations can be a nightmare in the world of technology but sometimes there is just no getting away from it. So today we see reports suggesting LG will bring a 3D tablet and HTC will bring the Flyer to Mobile World Congress (MWC) next month.

Taking the LG story first, it has long been rumoured that LG will announce an Optimus Pad (or G-Slate as it's also being called) and we now have several sources claiming that the tablet will be the first ever with a 3D display. As we noted in our podcast last week, one thing lacking from the plethora of 3D devices at CESthis year was a 3D tablet and a 3D superphone. So it comes as no real surprise that LG could be coming to the table with such a device.

Reports from French website GPS And Co say they have had it confirmed by LG’s French arm that the device will have a glasses-free 3D display and 3D camera to allow for viewing and production of 3D images and video. Other reports say 3D glasses have been spotted on a potential accessories list for the tablet but the 8.9in device should be unveiled at MWC when we will see exactly how accurate these reports are.

On the HTC side of things, the ever-unreliable DigiTimes is reporting that the Taiwanese company is planning on bringing its still-unofficial tablet to market by March in the US – which makes sense considering Motorola and RIM will be looking to being their own tablets to market around the same time. The tablet could be called the Flyer (or the Scribe), or indeed both since it is also reported that HTC will be bringing two further tablet devices in June of this year.

The Flyer will be available in the US in March with the rest of the world getting it in Q2 according to sources and will initially be running Gingerbread (Android 2.3) putting it behind the Xoom which will have Honeycomb when it makes it debut. However, the early release of the Flyer could be the reason for this as Google may not have Honeycomb ready at this stage. Sources say the Flyer can be updated to 3.0 wherever it becomes available.